Leadership Practices of Fast Growing Megachurches

In 1999 Bob Buford sold Buford Television, Inc. to fund the work of the Leadership Network. He also wanted the time to invest myself in its mission, which is connecting the innovative leaders in American Christianity in order to multiply their ideas and practices. That has happened! When we began, there were about 200 megachurches (typically defined as 2,000 attending on a typical weekend). Now, there are ten times that many.

In 1988, Forbes magazine quoted Peter Drucker as saying, “Pastoral megachurches (are) surely the most important social phenomena in American society in the last 30 years.” As usual, Peter was way ahead of the crowd, but the crowd has caught up. A Google search yields the following header: “Results 1-100 of about 1,940,000 English pages over the past six months for Rick Warren.” Wow!

What are the characteristics of the people who lead booming megachurches? Bob compiled the list below. You can read the complete article here or you can buzz through the list by just reading these bold headings.

Leadership Practices of Fast Growing Megachurches
1. An entrepreneurial approach to leadership.
2. Strong leadership, strong management.
3. Preserve the essence. Change the form.
4. They inhabit the Intersection: God, The Culture, TheTools and The Individual
5. User-friendly – Easy access for unchurched people.
6. Purpose Driven – God’s Purposes.
7. Biblically based.
8. It’s about relationships.
9. It’s about the heart, the head, and the Holy Spirit -- Go with reason as far as it will take you, but it’s not enough!
10. Understands market segmentation.
11. The Network is the University of the Future
12. Think globally – Act locally.

Using Rick Warren’s baseball diamond, what’s the state of your faith? Do these practices define a church that would appeal to you? Read Bob's complete article.